Natural Navigation - Sun quiz added

[gaw]

I have used natural navigation in orienteering, usually knowing which way the wind is blowing and using that as a natural compass, but also sun direction. Perhaps some will think I should use my compass more for that but I actually enjoy using my compass less. I haven't resorted to using moss/lichen on trees (lichen likes the sunny side, moss the shady), and apparently in urban orienteering satellite dishes are a usefull direction indicator except I can't remember which way they all point, and they are definitely not natural! If the stars are out that probably means I chose the wrong course on a mountain marathon..., but I also use them as markers for my compass bearing when night orienteering.

[SeanC]

m in West Sussex, near Chichester and would love to give it another go. Who knows, being a slow runner and stopping frequently to inspect puddles, lichens and tree shape may prove a winning formula. Or not!

The local club, Southdowns, is very active and friendly. See http://www.southdowns-orienteers.org.uk/index/events and you will see events in May near Chichester. Most of their events will have a yellow and orange course which are suitable for beginners.Hunt around their website to find RouteGadget and you can see some local orienteering maps

[graeme]

Mark Mon-Williams (unique on google) ran a study comparing the "sense of direction" of elite orienteers and a control group. Basically walking round a building blindfold, then trying to retrace the route. If I remember rightly, orienteers were no better than anyone else.

[Gnitworp]

I get lost in buildings. I once went for a job, and when leaving the interview room by the door I thought I'd entered by, was told I was entering the dark room (I got the job).
However, with a map, I can claim to be marginally more competent.

[AndyC]

I apparently in urban orienteering satellite dishes are a usefull direction indicator except I can't remember which way they all point, and they are definitely not natural! .

TV Satellites are mainly over the Equator so in the UK they mostly point South

[IanD]

If you can bare another query, this all seems to be leading to a very different question: Is there a variation of orienteering that is not map-based - ie. one where the control points are given without reference to a map and only in terms of direction and distance?

Not in competitive orienteering, but sometimes as a training exercise conducted either without a map, or with bits of the map blanked out. Here however the objective is to practise using a compass bearing for direction and pace-counting for distance - the very antithesis of 'natural navigation' I should think.

[tristgo]

More great stuff, thanks. Just to embellish a few things:

Most TV satellite dishes in the UK tend to point closer SSE (152 degrees, at the Astra 2 satellite).

Moss location is determined by moisture levels, which are affected by aspect, gradient, season, texture and proximity to ground. With practice it is quite straightforward to work out if a moss is indicating direction, eg. north, or not.

Lichens are very sensitive to their environment and it is sometimes possible to work out a colour compass for your area, eg. golden = south, pale green with dark speckles = southwest, rusty brown = north etc.

[Kitch]

I can recall at least one occasion where the sun has prevented me making a 180 degree error.
I set a bearing and turned to follow it but something instinctively told me that the sun was on the wrong side for where I was supposed to be going.
Also as a junior I remember being awed whilst listening to a local Swedish "guru" on a Ludvika training camp. He described his navigation on a long leg. he followed a hillside for a pcaed distance and then took a bearing to hit the control. i.e. a bearing from where his pacing told him was, not from any physical feature on the ground.
Pacing is a basic natural technique surely. And I'd suggest than any distance judgement technique, even "thinking you've gone too far", or "drifted left " is natural.

orienteering without a compass is an excellent exercise, you learn to judge how far you need to turn to achieve a certain change in direction. Its not hard to judge angles with a bit of practise. This pays baack in a race situation where you have an extra sense to judge how far you have swung off a desired course (or in truth to prevent that happening by being able to adjust instinctively)

[SYO Member]

It's probably apocryphal but a few years ago I recall reading about an orienteer claiming to have located a control point by sense of smell.

The marker was on the side of one of a number of small bushes/thickets in an area where there was a peat (or similar) subsoil and its aroma became apparent after previous runners had disturbed the surface.

So approaching from the opposite side, it was possible to confirm by sniffing the air that it was the correct thicket and then run round to the correct side to punch.

[IanD]

I can recall at least one occasion where the sun has prevented me making a 180 degree error.

If trying to run on a rough bearing on a sunny day, some find it easier to keep a certain angle to the sun than to a compass needle. The late Peter Burt sometimes made a point of starting around 11:30GMT so that he could rely on the sun being close to due south (11:30 rather than 12:00 on the assumption that he would be out for roughly one hour).

And while I would say that I don't use the sun much for orienteering navigation, I certainly felt disconcerted by it being in the north in Australia.

[Sunlit Forres]

And while I would say that I don't use the sun much for orienteering navigation, I certainly felt disconcerted by it being in the north in Australia

And I felt even more disconcerted after running in the southern hemisphere for the first (and only) time and finding my northern hemisphere compass didn't work. I've often used the sun in UK events, and I proved the old adage that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. I ended up off the map (but I was almost precisely 180 degrees off the map so I must have been doing the wrong thing pretty accurately).

[tristgo]

Here's a fun quiz for the sun-lovers:

1) On a December morning in the UK you run towards the sun for a half an hour at sunrise. How could you use the sun to help you run back to your starting point at sunset?

2) How would you use the sun to cover the same ground, out and back, in June?

Enjoy!

[andypat]

Mark Mon-Williams (unique on google) ran a study comparing the "sense of direction" of elite orienteers and a control group. Basically walking round a building blindfold, then trying to retrace the route. If I remember rightly, orienteers were no better than anyone else.

Which group were you in Graeme?

[Neil M40]

Interesting how you decide on what is natural and what is not. The sun, the stars, lichen are all natural, but surely so is the Earth’s magnetic field. Ok somebody has manufactured a compass to help me detect the Earth’s magnetic field, but if I find myself a lodestone and attach it to a piece of string is that alright?

[Mrs H]

I think you would have the sun on your right hand side(ish).